“The reason that I keep writing is that all my most powerful
messages about the fates of wild places that I care about need to have words as
well as images.” – Galen
Rowell
Rowell was born in Oakland, CA on this date in 1940 and died in August of 2002 after devoting his final 30 years to photographing and writing about the world’s wild places. In the process, he won the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography and established his own lasting legacy.
He was held in equal high regard for
his writing -- on photography,
humanitarian and environmental issues, and mountaineering. His 18 books included In the
Throne Room of the Mountain Gods about the history of mountaineering on the
Himalayan mountain K2, and Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic
Landscape, one of the best selling “how-to” photo books of all time.
In addition to his many photo shoots and articles for such
prestigious journals as Life, National Geographic, and Outdoor
Photographer, he also produced myriad stand-alone shots. “Luckily,” he once said, “people tell me
how they have had a particular landscape photograph of mine in their office or
bedroom for 15 years and it always speaks to them strongly whenever they see
it.”
Galen
Rowell and the cover photo for one of his books
He said recognizing how film sees the world differently than
the human eye was one of his "Secrets to success. Sometimes those differences can make a
photograph more powerful than what you actually observed. It’s remarkable.”
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